Effects of Tc17 Cells on Disease Severity and HBV-DNA Elimination in Patients with HBV Related Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ABSTRACT

@#【Objective】To investigate the effects of Tc17 cells on disease severity and elimination of HBV-DNA in patients with HBV related acute-on-chronic liver failure（HBV-ACLF）.【Methods】Forty-three patients with HBV- ACLF were enrolled. Twenty patients with chronic hepatitis B（CHB）and 12 healthy subjects（NC）were enrolled as controls. Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of peripheral Tc17 cells. HBV-DNA loads were measured，and the MELD，MELD-Na，CLIF-C ACLF and AARC scores were used to evaluate the disease severity. The effects of Tc17 cells on disease severity and decline of HBV-DNA were analyzed.【Results】Compared with NC group and CHB group， the expression of Tc17 cells in HBV-ACLF patients was significantly increased（P < 0.001 and P = 0.017）. Correlation analysis showed that Tc17 cells were positively correlated with AARC score，MELD score and MELD-Na score（r = 0.504，P = 0.001；r = 0.417，P = 0.005 and r = 0.382，P = 0.012），and a correlated trend was found with CLIF-C ACLF score（r = 0.294，P = 0.055）. And as the disease progressed，the expression of Tc17 cells gradually increased.In addition，Tc17 cells were positively correlated with HBV-DNA levels（r = 0.339，P = 0.026）at baseline，and the HBV-DNA levels were significantly decreased in patients with higher expression of Tc17 cells than in lower group after 4 weeks of treatment（P < 0.001）. Furthermore，it was found that baseline Tc17 cells and AST levels were associated with the HBV-DNA decline by multivariate linear regression analysis.【Conclusion】Tc17 cells-mediated inflammatory response helps clear the HBV-DNA，but excessive inflammatory response may aggravate the disease severity.